Buying a Car in Kenya: Part 2

Oh wait… picking out the car is only half of the story…

Question Three: How do I actually buy the car?

Answer: Funny you should ask… it starts with abandoning all plans of ever making it back to Suba and settling in to residing in Nairobi for an indefinite period of time (read: 2.5 weeks).

I thought I could simply make a bank transfer at Barcley’s bank, a sister bank of Bank of America. Not so. Plan B: Wire money from my account in the U.S. to the car company’s account in Kenya. This plan was all hunky dorey until I mentioned it to a British guy who has been working in Nairobi for the last five years. His eyes popped open wide and he looked at me with this mixture of terror and shock as if I was a green alien and not someone who suggested a money wire to an African bank account. Jeez. Call my dad, cancel the transfer, try to figure out another solution.

So now I’m on a hunt for a bank account so that I can wire the money to my own bank account in Kenya and then do a transfer domestically. In theory a safer bet I’m told. Of course that raises the new question: how does one open a bank account in Kenya?

The answer to most questions in Africa is of course “It depends”.

Expat Banking in Kenya 101:

As a resident (with proof of a valid work permit), you can open several different types of accounts. You can open a Kenya shillings account, and U.S. dollars account, a U.K. pounds account, or even a Euro account. At some banks you can even do this for free. If you don’t have proof of residency, most banks will turn you away; however, if you explain that you are travelling around Africa for awhile and would like easy access to your money, Barcley’s Bank (and possibly others) will allow you to open an account. You need to be “introduced” by a friend who has an account with Barcley’s or “pay a lawyer” a few bucks. However, at Barcley’s, you pay about $10 a month to keep the account open or keep about $2,000 in the account to keep it open for free.

Other ways to get large sums of money from the U.S. to Kenya: you can increase the limit on your debit card temporarily and take out cash from the ATM or bank, but this is limited by the local bank’s willingness to let you take out that much at once, the limited supply of cash at the ATM, and the size of your suitcase (when the largest bill is worth about $10, taking out thousands of dollars gets a bit bulky).

Final strategy: Money wire.

Back to our story… After much ado about nothing, I returned to the money wire idea. I checked out the account at the bank to ensure that the account was a valid business account in the company’s name and had regular activity going on in it. I also verified the other wire details with the bank. You would think that would be adequate, yes? Of course not. When my father tried (for a second time) to wire the money, it was discovered that the Swift code for the bank of incorrect. Seriously? Seriously. So alas I had to return to the bank once more to verify what we determined was likely to correct Swift code (Didn’t I just ask you to confirm this for me yesterday?).

Side note: I’d just like to point out that all of this running around in Nairobi is no small task. The traffic in this city is the worst I’ve seen in my entire life – and I grew up in Los Angeles! It takes about two hours to get into downtown from where I’m staying. Another hour or two to the car place. And I like to get home before dark. So 4-6 hours of daylight are often spent sitting in buses. Transportation seems to be my primary issue here in Kenya.

So the wire is finally sent. Tracking numbers obtained. Tracking numbers show receipt into the Kenyan bank account on Friday afternoon. Call car salesman. No answer. Text car salesman. No answer. No answer until Monday afternoon after multiple harassing phone calls and finally a confirmation that the money was received and I can pick up the car. Hallelujah!